1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a CPP (Current Perpendicular to the Plane) giant magnetoresistive head in which a sensing current flows in the thickness direction (perpendicularly to the film plane).
2. Description of the Related Art
Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) elements used for hard disk devices and magnetic sensors are roughly divided into a CIP (Current in the Plane) type in which a sensing current flows in parallel with the film plane of each of layers constituting an element, and a CPP (Current Perpendicular to the Plane) type in which a sensing current flows perpendicularly to the film plane of each of the layers constituting an element.
FIG. 21 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the structure of a CPP-GMR head using a conventional CPP-GMR element. A CPP-GMR head 100 comprises a lower shield layer 110 extending in the X direction shown in the drawing, a lower nonmagnetic metal film 120 formed on the lower shield layer 110 at its center in the X direction, and a free magnetic layer 131, a nonmagnetic metallic material layer 132, a pinned magnetic layer 133, an antiferromagnetic layer 134, and an upper nonmagnetic metal film 140, which are laminated on the lower nonmagnetic metal film 120. The CPP-GMR head 100 further comprises an upper shield layer 150 formed over the upper nonmagnetic metal film 140 to extend in the X direction, hard bias layers 163 in contact with parts of the free magnetic layer 131 and with both sides of the nonmagnetic layer 132, insulating layers 161 filling in the respective spaces between the hard bias layers 163 and the lower shield layers 110, and insulating layers 164 filling in the respective spaces between the hard bias layers 163 and the upper shield layer 150. Furthermore, bias underlying layers 162 are disposed between the hard bias layers 163 and the insulating layers 161.
In the CPP-GMR head having the above-described construction, the lower shield layer 110 and the upper shield layer 150 function as electrode films, and a current also flows through the lower shield layer 110 and the upper shield layer 150. As generally known, each of the lower shield layer 110 and the upper shield layer 150 comprises a soft magnetic material, for example, NiFe or the like. Therefore, when the current flows through the lower shield layer 110 and the upper shield layer 150, an AMR (anisotropic magnetoresistance) effect occurs to change the resistances of the lower shield layer 110 and the upper shield layer 150. The change in resistance becomes noise of the output of the head.
Particularly, with a high current density, there is the problem of increasing the noise due to the AMR effect. For example, in the example shown in the drawing, the current density is increased at the entrance of a sensing current (the contact portion between the lower shield layer 110 and the lower nonmagnetic metal film 120, and the contact portion between the upper shield layer 150 and the upper nonmagnetic metal film 140).
In order to decrease the noise due to the AMR effect, it is thought to use a shield material with a low AMR effect for forming the lower shield layer 110 and the upper shield layer 150. However, a sufficient magnetic shield effect cannot be obtained by using the shield material with a low AMR effect. In the CPP-GMR head having the above-described construction, the sensing current also flows through the antiferromagnetic layer 134 comprising, for example, Pt—Mn. The antiferromagnetic layer 134 has a resistivity of about 200 μΩ·cm which is significantly higher than those of the nonmagnetic metal films 120 and 140, the free magnetic layer 131, and the pinned magnetic layer 133. Also, the antiferromagnetic layer 134 must be thickly formed for maintaining antiferromagnetic characteristics. For example, when the distance between the upper and lower shields is about 600 Å, the thickness of the antiferromagnetic layer 134 is about 200 Å. When the thick antiferromagnetic layer 134 having high resistivity is provided, the antiferromagnetic layer 134 has high resistance and thus generates heat when the sensing current flows therethrough. Since the temperature of the whole of the head is increased by the generated heat (Joule heat), the reliability and high-frequency characteristics of the head deteriorate. Also, the thick antiferromagnetic layer 134 causes a difficulty in decreasing the shield distance between the upper and lower shield layers, thereby causing a disadvantage to increasing the recording density.
In a CIP-GMR head, only about 10 percent of a sensing current flows through an antiferromagnetic layer, and the sensing current never flows through shield layers, thereby causing none of the above problems.